The Hardy Boys Crawling with Zombies!

[hardygirl847]

So I FINALLY got my book! I am super excited! I plan on reading it again tomorrow. It's really hard for me to write a review or tell you about without it being a spoiler. There's just too much to say!!

Therefore...I need to know...how much do you want to know? Or I can just write it up anyways and let you decide whether or not you want to know.

[SDLagent]

What did you think of it? And congrats on being the first member to read the new series!

[hardygirl847]

lol Thanks! I really liked it. It was a very fast read for me.  It's significantly bigger than the other GNs. There is a LOT of foreshadowing...(some very obvious) "events" or clues  that will lead to the next book and probably throughout the series.

I really want to give a whole run down of the book but I don't want to ruin it for anyone.

Illustration quality is GREAT. I am not a big fan of their hair lol but they're fairly consistent with the older GNs otherwise.

Also, without spoiling too much yet, I will say that this series seems like it will bring up things that we wonder about as fans (what ifs). Let's just say they aren't perfect.

[hardygirl847]

Ok so I decided to write something up.... It's a little on and VERY spoilerish...I pretty much wrote a play by play. It's a little rushed so not the best but here ya go...

Crawling with Zombies

Review/info

Characters
Frank
Joe
Laura
Aunt Trudy
Fenton
Belinda Conrad
Chet Morton
Taylor Dent
Chief Collig (note?it?s not Sheriff?yay!)
Goons and bad guys


Chapter One: Speed Trap

Frank and Joe are on motorcross bikes and being chased by the bad guys. Apparently, these bad guys were interested in computer chips. They race faster and faster but still manage to bicker about how the whole thing went down. Joe claims that if they had done what he wanted, they would have been halfway home instead of being in a hot chase. Frank counters that his way allowed them to discover how these criminals were able to get through the security system [to get the chips].

Frank instructs Joe to skid deliberately. The skidding causes sand to hit the criminals in their eyes and distract them enough to crash, fall off, etc. The Hardys win. Frank calls Joe his little brother and Joe asks him not to call him that.

?Yeah, I know you didn?t mean anything by it. It?s just sometimes ?I get tired of being the ?younger Hardy boy brother?.?

Before Frank could say anything, a police officer comes to talk to them, mentions they are Fenton?s sons, and of course tells them not to be crimefighters.

?American teens against crime.??Frank

?The idea?s ridiculous.?-Joe

Back at home, Aunt Trudy gets them a present for the anniversary of her living with them. She tells them that she got rid of their old game system and got them a new zbox. Frank and Joe FREAK OUT because that?s what they use to listen to their ATAC assignments. Aunt Trudy is hurt but Fenton saves the day. He tells them that when he heard what she was doing, he got them a new game. Of course they are excited and take it immediately to watch it. They realize that ATAC gave them an upgraded system. Surprise, surprise?the game was a new case.

The game/mission tells them that a new trend in flash mobs has started with a group of zombies. Up until now they were just for fun. Kids would get a random text or notification on a social network to come to a location, get dressed (or already be dressed) as a zombie. Then they would trick or ?terrorize? the locals. Unfortunately at one of these events, a girl walked straight into oncoming traffic and was hit by a car. She survived and told police she didn?t know why she felt compelled to walk in front a car. More incidents were happening other places too. Frank and Joe were to look into it before the accidents turned deadly.

Joe asks if social networking is something that Frank?s girlfriend Belinda Conrad is into and Frank states that she is not his girlfriend. However, it appears that Frank wouldn?t mind if she was. No Callie here. Anyways, Joe pokes fun at Frank for not being smooth with the ladies. They ride off, Joe calling Frank ?big brother? and asking that they ?don?t think, just do? for once.

Chapter 3 (I don?t know what happened to Chapter 2): Two?s Company, Three?s a Crowd

Here they are at Chet?s house. Belinda happened to be there studying for a test. Chet looks online to see if he can find any mention of a new flash mob coming up anytime soon. After checking all of his resources, he comes up empty handed.

Joe coaxes Belinda into helping by offering her dinner with Frank. She tells Frank that she likes Italian or Chinese. Frank responds that he likes Italian. Frank mentions that he is not happy with Joe for doing that however.

Belinda figures out that the next flash mob was going to happen at museum row that night. Joe is eager to go but Frank wants to make a plan first. This does not go over well with Joe who starts yelling at Frank. He wants to do it ?Indiana Jones? style and make it up as they go. Frank insists that it?s better to have a plan because they don?t know what they will be getting into. Joe presses on encouraging Frank to have some fun, but Frank is not budging.

Heated and shouting, Joe leaves with Chet, leaving Frank to go in their car. They split up.

Belinda tags along with Frank even though he doesn?t want her in danger. After Belinda discovers where the tweet came from, Frank gets ready to leave. In true Hardy girl fashion, she insists, and he gives in. So they take the Hardy?s red sporty convertible to the Bayport Science Lab.

Chapter 4: Their Chemical Romance

Joe and Chet arrive at the flash mob. A sea of teenagers in zombie costumes is all they can see. Joe notices three older guys dressed up and observes that they seem out of place. Chet notices that a lot of the kids there were more goth and therefore they stuck out too. To solve that problem, they approach a girl near some zombie make up and start getting into zombie mode.

Meanwhile, Frank and Belinda are at the lab trying to figure out who might have sent the tweester update. It turns out to be Taylor Dent, a girl from Bayport. They see her carrying a canister of something and chase her after finding out that she started the zombie crawl. She makes comments about no one noticing her, people not caring what she does, etc. Then she runs away with the chemicals and they chase her. While in pursuit, Belinda asks Frank what is going on and he tries to cover his tracks. He can?t tell her about ATAC. Unfortunately for him, she doesn?t believe him. However, at this point they catch up to Taylor and she?s standing in a doorway with the canister of chemicals.

Back at the zombie crawl, Joe and Chet are now completely in costume. They start feeling strange though and can?t control themselves. Neither can the other zombies.

[hardygirl847]

Oops...too long. Here's the rest. Highlight over the white.

Chapter 5: Zombies on Parade

Taylor rants on and on about moving from?wait for it?River Heights and still being ignored at Bayport. She wanted to hurt her peers like she had been treated (?like a mindless zombie?). Plus, she claims she was getting paid for it as well. Before Frank could find out who was paying her to use it, Taylor is shot and killed.

The canister spills and Belinda recognizes the smell and creamy substance as shea butter. Realizing that it is used in make up, Frank realizes that Joe and Chet were at the zombie crawl already and probably part of a large mob. The mob would distract police so the three aforementioned out of place criminals could steal from the museum. While racing to Joe?s aid, Frank is adamant that Joe always gets himself out of trouble. Then, in his thought bubble, he tells Joe that he is counting on him not to get himself killed.

Back at the museum, Chet and Joe are moving along with the rest of the kids approaching the building. The security guards don?t know what to do and threaten to call the cops. The zombies continue to walk. Joe and Chet comment that it is hard for them to think, walk, and everything looked and sounded weird.

Chapter Six: The Monster Inside Me

As they walk in, there is a huge fountain. Joe feels like he is on fire and decides to take a dip in the fountain water.

Frank and Belinda arrive to the commotion and quickly see the three men trying to steal a gold statue. Chet comes by and Belinda tries to shake him free of the zombie grasp. Joe shows up complaining of a headache but was free of the zombie makeup trance.

Frank deduces that Joe?s dip in the water caused his make up to run and therefore not feel entranced anymore. Frank then causes what he calls reversing a ?group brain washing? by turning the fire alarm and sprinkler system on. The water washed away the make up and woke up the zombies.

Frank and Joe take action and try to stop the bad guys. Frank calls Joe his little brother again, and again, Joe is upset about that. ?I?m not little anymore!? is what he shouts while they fight the large men. Frank tells Joe to go after the statue as it is flying in midair but he can?t because Frank is in his way. Luckily, Belinda catches it and claims that now Frank owes her two dinners.

The next morning, Fenton congratulates the boys on a job well done. However, from what they learned from the 3 guys they caught, there was still a ?puppet master? originating in River Heights that they would have to investigate.

Fenton then starts to say that they have two different approaches. Frank and Joe end up in an argument about how things went down the previous night. Frank yells at Joe for going in half cocked and almost getting himself killed. Joe argues that his dip in the water fountain was how Frank figured out how to stop the crooks.

?It was a calculated risk, and I?d do it again.?-Joe

?Not if I have anything to say about it!?-Frank

?You won?t. You?re my brother. Not my boss.?-Joe

Fenton interjects and says that they are brothers and partners but they will be late for school. Both boys bid farewell to their parents and head out upset at one another.

Laura asks if something was wrong because she heard arguing. Fenton says ?Our boys have been 'the Hardy boys' so long we sometimes forget they are two different young men, with their own minds, and own points of view.?

Laura asks if they should be worried and Fenton says that they will have rough times ahead but hopefully they will face them together.

The End.


So?I am just dying to know what you think! I did this kind of rushed so it?s not as good as I guess it could be. I tried to get the gist of what was going on. Oh, and just letting you know that it?s vague as to what chemicals are being used with the make-up. It wasn't something I left out...

The references to River Heights definitely lead to a Nancy Drew cross over. I am not a big fan of hers, but I did look the preview for her new GN?I wasn?t that impressed. I am biased though.

Also, why Belinda?? What happened to Callie and Iola?? I should also mention that Belinda is another blond haired love interest for Frank.

The biggest thing of all?the Hardy Boys fighting?! Makes me think even more that Break Up will be about that!! They better get back together or I will be TICKED OFF! Seriously?I knew this would happen eventually?but they better make it right somehow. I cannot wait for the next one! I am loving this new series already!


The size of the book is larger than the older GNs by a lot but there are fewer pages within the story. It's a fast read and has GREAT illustrations!!

[SDLagent]

lol Thanks! I really liked it. It was a very fast read for me.  It's significantly bigger than the other GNs. There is a LOT of foreshadowing...(some very obvious) "events" or clues  that will lead to the next book and probably throughout the series.

I really want to give a whole run down of the book but I don't want to ruin it for anyone.

Illustration quality is GREAT. I am not a big fan of their hair lol but they're fairly consistent with the older GNs otherwise.

Also, without spoiling too much yet, I will say that this series seems like it will bring up things that we wonder about as fans (what ifs). Let's just say they aren't perfect.

Sounds good. It's cool that they're setting-up further developments for the series.

[hardygirl847]

Yeah definitely more to come. Spencer, did you resist reading the review/synopsis I wrote? Hopefully you get your copy soon! I'd love  to hear what you thought.

[SDLagent]

Yeah definitely more to come. Spencer, did you resist reading the review/synopsis I wrote? Hopefully you get your copy soon! I'd love  to hear what you thought.

Yeah, I resisted. I don't like spoilers.

[hardygirl847]

You have willpower! Awesome. Now, I will have to patiently wait for you to get your copy so we can discuss it further.

[tomswift2002]

Did you also get the Nancy Drew New Casefile as well to see what the jab in the cover blurb was about?

[hardygirl847]

No, I didn't because I'm not a huge ND fan. Sorry There is a small preview though from it in the back of the CWZ Hardy Boy book. I'm not a fan of the artwork and it seems ....I dunno...."eh". Again, I'm not the best judge.

[MacGyver]

I got both the Crawling with Zombies and the Nancy Drew, Vampire Slayer (Part 1) graphic novels, but on the surface I haven't noticed a ton of connection. However, I haven't yet actually read the stories. But I have read the note from the publisher for both and I did notice that one one of them, he actually mentioned that someone in the Hardy Boys story is mentioned as being from River Heights and so he kind of hints that there may be something up with that in future issues. So perhaps we'll see what comes of it in the 2nd. part to the Nancy Drew story- or it could be setting up for an ongoing thing later in the series. We'll see.

[hardygirl847]

MacGyver, if you read my spoiler you would know that River Heights is definitely mentioned and we are led to believe they will be going there. But I will say no more....don't want to ruin it. READ IT ALREADY so we can discuss it more.

[SDLagent]

Getting my copy tomorrow!

[hardygirl847]

Wahoo Spencer!! I REALLY want to know what you think! Read it quickly and come discuss asap!